Method of making insulator supports



Aprifi 9 1929. c. L. PEIRCE, JR

METHOD OF MAKING INSULATOR SUPPORTS Filed July 16, 1926 5 Sheets$heet WITNESSES 5 Aprifl 16, 1929.

c. L. PEIRCE, JR 7 METHOD OF MAKING INSULATOR SUPPORTS Filed July 16, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet FIEQ.

. April 16, 1929- c. PEIRCE, JR 1,709,805

METHOD OF MAKING INSULATOR SUPPORTS Filed July 16, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FiG.Q.

Patented Apr. 16 1 929.

UNI-TED srATas P rice.

T i: i

METHOD or MAK NG msUnAToR sn'rron'rs.

Application filed July is,

This invention relates to insulator supports and more particularly to the type known as secondaryracks such as are commonly-used for mounting a row ofinsulators upon a sup- 5 porting wall, pole or the like. I Y j Supports of this type generally consist of a base section, by means of which the device is secured to the ,supporting structure and which has mounted thereon a plurality of sep- 1 arately formed outwardly extending insulator supporting arms, the latter being of a configuration dependent upon the particular type of insulator to be supported.

It has heretofore been customary to form the arms separately and secure them to the base section, which itself is usually formed by one or more parts, by any suitable manner of fastening such, for example, as riveting.

It is apparent that this form of construc-' tion is subject to serious defects from the commercial viewpoint; there being, among others, the cost and time of manufacturing,

due to the necessity of assembling the various parts and fastening them securely, to-

gether. In addition, the strength of such devices is always largely dependent upon the strength of the particular fastening means employed rather than upon the design and construction of the completed rack.

. An object of this invention is to provide an improved method of manufacturing insulator supports of the type set forth;

I A further object is to provide a method of manufacturing insulator supports more rapidly and cheaply than has heretofore believed to have been possible.

A still further object is to provide a method of manufacturing insulator supports from sheet metal with practically no waste of the 'stock. i

A still further object is to provlde an 1nsulator sup ort of simple and rugged construction w ich will be cheap and easy-to manufacture and which will overcome disadvantages encountered in prior art structures known to me. I

These and other objects which will be apparent to those skilled in this particular art are accomplished by means of the present mg vention, one embodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which'Figure 1 is a plan view of a piece of sheet metal stock showing a method of stamping one form of blanks therefrom. Fig. 2

' is a side elevation of an insulator rack made invention to the manufacture of a different 1926. Serial: No. 122,826.

from the form ,of blank shown in Fig. 1. 3 is a sectional View on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing one of the insulator support- 1ng arms in plan. Fig. 4 is a view similar to'Fig. 1- illustrating the application of the type of insulator rack. Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of a rack formed from the blanks illustrated in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a front View thereof. Fig. 7 is asectional view on the line 77 of Fig. 5. .Figs8 is a similar view on the line 8-8 thereof and Figs. 9 and 10 areviews similar to Fi s. 2 and 3, illustrating a different form bf securing means. It will be apparent from the following de scription that-the present invention is applicable to the manufacture of various forms of insulatorsupports although the accom-' panying drawings illustrate its application to two forms of secondary racks only.

- One of the commercial advantages result-- ing from the present invention is the manu facture of articles of this type with practically no waste whatever of the stock from which they are made.

As illustrated, theinvention contemplates .the severingof a sheet of flat metal stock in such manner that two blanks are simultaneously formed which are capable of being employed together in the formation of ap-. paratusof the kind herein described. The method further contemplates the formation of one of said blanks from the portion of the stock which, in an ordinary stamping operation,\would be waste material in so far as concerns the formation of the other blank.

In the preferred embodiment two blanksare cut from a single strip of stock in such manner that the base portions of the blanks are formed from material adjacent the opposed longitudinal edge of the strip, and the arm portions, from which the insulatorsupporting arms are eventually formed, project inwardly and 'in such relation that the arms of one blank extend in the opposite direction to and interlock with the arms of'the other blank. j

In the specificembodiment illustrated each blank comprises a longitudinal section which is adapted to become a part of the base section of the finished rack. Those portions of the blanks which ultimately become the insulator supporting arms, namely, the arm blanks, are formed by the line of severance be tween the two opposed blanks. It. will thus be seen that the material forming the arm theformation of the,o'pposedblanks so as to minimize waste and labor, and this may be accomplished by cutting the blanks from the stock so that they are simultaneously formed in opposed relation with portions of one blank interleaving with portions of the other blank.

'After the blanks are cut the longitudinal section is flanged and. the material of the arms is' bent to provide-two complementary blanks which can be joined, preferably by butt welding to form a finished rack.

In the illustrated embodiment of this invention a strip of sheet metal stock 10 is first cut along a line 11 of irregular contour to provide blank strips each of which has a longitudinal sect-ion 12 and outwardly extending separated sections or arms 13 formed by the interlocking sections of the complementary blanks which will result from the irregular contour of the line 11 along which the stock is cut. It will be seen that cutting the stock along such a line to form a number of duplicate blank strips practically el'eminates any waste whatever. Each blank strip is then severed'along lines 14 to provide du-' plicate rack blanks of suitable lengthw Of course, the blanks can be formed by cutting along the lines 14 at the same time-that the strip is out along the irregular line 11. This entire operation can be conveniently performed by stamping.

, In manufacturing the form of secondary rack illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, the arm blanks 13are of the slightly tapering contour illustrated and their outer ends are cut I to form notches 15 in each side'thereon resulting in each arm-blank being made up of a tapering relatively wide section 16 and a projecting narrow end or nose 17. The

alon the dotted lines 17, see Fig. 1,- so as to provide angularly extending surfaces 18, see Fig. 3; and the narrow nose 17 of each arm isrbent 'intoa substantially semi-cylindrical finger 19.. The longitudinal section 12 of each blank is bent along the dotted line 20 to form a flange 21 and it will be noted that while the flange extends in one direction upon one blank' end the surfaces 18 and finon the same blank, anot gers 19 extend in the opplosite' direction up- &

blank is formed by bending its flange 21, surface 18 and finger 19 in the opposite direction relatively to the corresponding-parts of its complementary blank. Two complementary blanks are then united by welding the meeting edges of the surfaces 18 and of the fingers 19, see Fig. 3, so that a secondary rack 22 having spaced insulator supporting arms 23 and a base section 24 is provided.

In addition to welding two. 'complemen tary blanks together the nose 17- of each arm may be provided with a perforated lug 35 which is riveted to the corresponding lug of the associated complementary blank. A spacer 36 is positioned between the sides of the arms adjacent the base flanges and provides an additional means for securing them together and also constitutes a reinforcement for each arm at that portion subject to the greatestbuckling strains. It will be' apparent that it is unn ecessary to weld the parts together when the latter method of fastening is employed.

It w'll be noted that the notches 15, as a result of the bending to which the metal of the arms has been subjected, provide openings 25 in the outer end of each-arm of the finished rack through which the usual pin on which the insulators are mounted can be threaded through the arms for holding the insulators in position thereon. Each flange 21 forming the base 24 is provided with slots 26 which may conveniently be formed-at the time the metal stock is stamped.

In manufacturing this type of secondary .100

, used for mounting pm type insulators, illustrated in Figs. 4 to 8. In this case the irreg- I10 ular line 11 along which the metal stock is w cut will have a contour of the properconfig uration to form the arms 13 ofsubstantial L-shape as illustrated. The blanks are provided preferably by stampingin the same 11 manner as heretofore described. After each blank is cut. the edges of the arms are bent along the dotted lines 27 with the result that the upper ends of the arms are semi-cylin drical as shown'in Fig. 8-while their lower ends adjacent the base sections are more rectangular in outline. The longitudinal ,section of each blank is bent along the line 28 to form a flange 29 and the angularly extending surfaces 30 of complementary bla-nksare united bybutt weldin the bent edgesof the arms to provide a finis ed blank having a base sectlon 31 formed by the flanges 29 on which are suppbrted the iner complementary tegral insulator supporting arms 32 formed 1:0

by joining the two half sections of complementary blanks. The flanges 29 have notches 33 for mounting the rack upon a support.

It will be seen that the only waste of stock material in the manufacture of the rack illustrated in Figs. 4 to 8 is that which is formed by cutting the notches 33.

Although I have illustrated a particular series-of steps for manufacturing two examples of insulator supports, it will be obvious that various changes, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention and that the invention is not 11mited to details herein set forth except as specified by the appended claims.

What I claim as new and deslre to secure by Letters. Patent is:

1. The method of manufacturing insulator supports which consists in formingseparate complementary blanks from a single p ece of stock and joining said blanks to form said suport.

2. The method of manufacturing insulator supports which consists in cutting a plurality of blanks, each having a longitudinal sectlon provided with outwardly extending arms and joining said blanks to form a rack having a base with integral insulator supporting arms extending outwardly therefrom.

3. The method of manufacturing insulator I supports which consists in forming a pluralityof blanks, each having a longitudinal section provided with outwardly extending arms and joining the edges of said arms so as to. form a secondary rack having spaced base members with integral insulator supporting 7 arms extending outwardly therefrom.

4. The method of manufacturlng insulator supports which consists in forming duplicate blanks having longitudinal sections provided with outwardly projecting arms fromv interlocking sections of flat stock, bending the edges of said arms, flanging the longitudinal sections and securing the bentedges of the arms of one blank to the bent edges of the arms of the other blank with'the flanges of said longitudinal sections positioned adjacent each a other to form an insulator supporting rack. v

, 5. The method of manufacturing insulator supports which consists in providing a flat sheet "of material, stamping duplicate blanks having longitudinal base sections and projecting arms from interlocking portions of said sheet, bending said blanks and securing said blanks together to form a supporting rack.

6. The method of manufacturing insulator supporting racks which consists in providing a strip of fiat stock, cutting said stock so that the edges of the stock form longitudinal sections of duplicate blanks and the interlocking central sections of said stock form arms proj ecting outwardly from each of said longitudinal sections, and joining two of said blanks to forma secondar rack.

7. The method of manufacturing a secondary rack having a base provided with integral insulator supporting arms which consists in cutting a stripof sheet metal along an irregular line so as to form duplicate blanks having longitudinal sections and outwardly extendiiig arms, notching the corners of said arms to provide a relatively narrow nose, forming complementary blanks by flanging the longitudinal sections, bending the edges of said arms and the end of said nose to extend angularly therefrom, and butt welding the bent weldingthe bent edges of said arms to the similar bent edges of a complementary blank.

9. The method of manufacturing a secondary rack having a baseprovided with integral insulator supporting arms which consists in cutting a strip of sheet metal along an irregular line so as to form duplicate blanks having longitudinal sections and outwardly extending arms, flanging the longitudinal section of said blanks, bending the edges of said arms so as to form a semi-cylindrical endand a substantially rectangular section adjacent the i' base and uniting the bent edges of the arms of two complementary blanks by butt welding.

' In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my n'ame this 26th day of June, 1926. CHARLES L. PEIRCE, JR. 

